Archives for January 4, 2018

‘In any case, he was a different coach his second year with Buffalo, going from being a folksy, willing interviewee with a self-deprecating sense of humor, to a prickly, easily-irritated man who became confrontational with the media.’

‘“I felt really nervous at first that the Bills were going to blow it at the end. Then they came through and we were like, ‘OK.’ Then it was anxiety all over again because now we have to hope the other team does what they need to do,” said Anastasia, who watched the game with friends at Don’s Semi-Friendly Tavern, where she bartends in addition to her job at St. Bonaventure University. “We cried a little bit, not going to lie. It was a good feeling,”’

‘”I know I have a role in this offense, just like everyone else,” Murphy said Wednesday after practice. “I can’t be Shady. You know, Shady is Shady. I just try to do what I can to take care of my role. When I get the call, I know what to do.”’

‘”I think you have to be patient with your approach,” quarterback Tyrod Taylor said Wednesday. “Their defense, you have to be able to take what they give you, but at the same time, be able to take advantage of the big plays with the different coverages that you get.”‘

‘Whatever the case, people here think of Marrone as a quitter, a man who walked away from the Bills after their first winning season in a decade. Aaron Williams tweeted, “Lost all respect!” minutes after Marrone quit that fateful evening.’

‘”My message to these guys is just put in a little more effort,” said Hyde, who was in the playoffs for all of his past four seasons with the Green Bay Packers. “I mentioned there’s training-camp speed, there’s preseason speed, there’s regular-season speed and there’s playoff speed. This is amped-up a little bit. Guys are ready to go, watching a little bit more film, studying more.’

‘“They are a good football team. They are physical on both sides of the ball. I think they have done a great job, like we have over the course of the year, with turnovers. They have created a lot of turnovers. They have obviously done a good job in their coverage units, special team-wise, and they are dangerous on offense.”‘

‘We have Albany bracing for trials of former officials and contractors that will lay bare the buying and selling of state government. And we have a school system that, despite glimmers of hope and change, still graduates too few and fails too many. But is anybody rallying, partying or waving banners about any of that? No, it’s all Bills, all the time.’

‘“Not the fact that I’ll be playing,” he said, “but that I’ll be in the playoffs. It’s something you grow up dreaming about. I’ve never been to the playoffs, this is my first year, but now that it’s Wednesday and we’re in the week, I’m approaching it like a regular-season game. Focus on the game plan, executing, and be able to do what we need to do to get prepared for the Sunday game.”’

‘That first day at Fisher in late July of 2000, no one could have foreseen the coming agony of the next 17 years because the Bills had been to the playoffs in 10 of the previous 12 seasons. Back then, the playoffs were almost a given, and on that initial day of camp, the Bills were anxious to get going on making it 11 trips in 13 years.’

‘In the mix of 35 songs, the Bills Mafia can shout along and watch the display located on White Oak Bend in Chili. With the current snow conditions the display is not expected to be taken down for at least two weeks.’

‘”I think if you watch them, Tom Coughlin’s finger prints are all over this thing,” Incognito said Wednesday. “It really feels like he’s running the show. Ball control offense, running the football, taking its time, suffocating defense that creates turnovers. When you get in third and long, they really turn up the pass rush. I think Coughlin and Marrone have been the stabilizing factor. They’ve had the talent. They brought in one or two guys here or there and it’s really invigorated the whole unit.”‘

‘Boyd, the wide receiver who scored a 49-yard touchdown late against the Baltimore Ravens to help Buffalo get into the playoffs for the first time since the 1999 season, asked Bills fans to consider donating to the Western Pennsylvania Youth Athletic Association on Wednesday.’

‘Here’s a look at some bars that are experiencing full-on Bills playoff fever, along with some of the area’s top sports bars, whether you’re a Bills fan or not. (If we missed your favorite, let us know in the comments).’

‘Perhaps the worst area of their game over recent weeks has been the run defense, which ranks dead last in DVOA since Week 10. That’s not a very good weakness to have against a Jacksonville offense built on pounding the ball. Did we mention that Buffalo’s best player, LeSean McCoy, is a game-time decision because of an ankle injury? Oh well, Buffalo fans. At least a playoff loss is better than another year without football in January.’

‘I’ve moved on from that. Like I said before, it’s been a while ago. They’re where they want to be and I’m where I want to be. We’re getting our team ready. I’m focused on my team and this game. That’s really all my focus is. My focus is not what’s gone on in my past whether it be Buffalo or Syracuse or New Orleans or the New York Jets or wherever I may have been.’

‘”At the end of the day, I’m asked to do a job,” Taylor said that week. “When I come into the facility, whether I’m a starter, backup, I have to continue to prepare. You never know when that opportunity will present itself. Stuff happens in this league, and you have to be ready for when opportunity presents itself. I will be ready; I continue to prepare the way I normally do, and if and when that opportunity presents, I’ll be ready to go out there and play.”‘

‘Rome praised the fan base for being die hard fans and said, “Nobody reps their city and team harder than the (Bills) Mafia.” He also compliments the fan base for donating money to Dalton’s foundation.’

‘Tyrod Taylor has a Super Bowl ring from his time with the Baltimore Ravens, but Sunday will be his first time stepping onto the field in a playoff game. The same can be said for Jaguars QB Blake Bortles.’

‘”Well (Murphy’s) a player that Brandon (Beane) had scouted and like I mentioned before he has expereince in this league, he’s had varsity reps before, both on the offensive side and special teams,” McDermott said. “He’s been out there before and I thought he handled himself well this weekend.”‘

‘Perhaps significantly, the community’s generosity caught the attention of national media outlets across the country, with the likes of CBS and ESPN talking up our positives instead of talking about our snowy weather and recent history of professional sports calamities. It is, in a region so often devoid of them, a true feel-good story and one we can’t help but embrace.’

‘Like I said, I was expecting something Billsy … with all of these games starting at 4:25 p.m. Sunday, it seemed inevitable that everything would fall Buffalo’s way — the Ravens, Titans and Chargers all lose — just for the Bills to lose to the Dolphins and miss out on the playoffs.’

‘Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that Bills fans would do something so over the top. How they’ve stayed with that team during a dark period that’s basically spanned two decades sets them apart to begin with is stunning, that they’d react this way to a simple playoff berth is just a continuation of that, I suppose.’

‘“The emotion was raw, and it was real, and it was overwhelming,” said Murphy, the Bills’ radio play-by-play man who was born and raised in nearby Lockport and has covered Buffalo sports his entire career. “And it was just the beginning.”’

‘The WPYAA donation goal was set at $20,000 but more than $30,000 had been received by Wednesday night from over 1,500 donors. Many donated in $17 increments, one dollar for each year since the Bills last reached the playoffs.’

‘One recent Halloween, a kid showed up at the Forrest residence dressed as Tyrod Taylor. So elated was Kevin Forrest to see a kid in Grand Island trick-or-treating as the Bills’ starting quarterback that he ran up to his office and grabbed a mini helmet signed by the team’s then-running back, CJ Spiller. “This kid’s like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Forrest said. “I’m like, ‘You picked the right house to go to.’”’

‘Two other Oilers teams advanced to the AFC Championship game, so those Bum Phillips Oilers teams were actually closer to the Super Bowl, but Oilers fans old enough to remember still can feel what it was like to see their team demolishing a foe in the playoffs and setting up such great hopes.’

‘After the Bills clinched a playoff spot on Sunday for the first time in forever by beating the Dolphins and getting some improbable help from the Cincinnati Bengals moments later, I reverted to my default secondary position of rooting for the Bills. If you don’t have a horse in this NFL postseason race, the bet here is that you’ll come off the top rope and bodyslam this flaming bandwagon.’

‘Running back Kenneth Davis told The Buffalo News that the home crowd willed the Bills to victory. “We were the Energizer bunnies, but they were the batteries in us,” he said. “I don’t know if people realize how passionate we were about the fans, and how they could change a game.”‘